Wildling (22 page)

“
Of course. Everyone does. The wayfarers have been spreading the word widely and most are considering the move.”

The wayfarers again. Or the sun elves as his dreams kept telling him. Dorn heard them mentioned and it gave him pause. They seemed to be everywhere of late. At the temple. Bothering him in his home. Annoying him in Little Rock. And now here in Alador. Whatever else they were the sun elves were in this up to their necks. Strange for a people he had always thought of as peaceful and even shy. Maybe meddling would be a better description. But they had brought him word of his family, so he would not judge them. And not Sena either. He owed her for bringing him word. He just wished he knew the wayfarers' plans, because relighting the way as they called it was only part of it. He was sure there was more. It had something to do with his dreams.

“You've heard of the ancient temple then too. The new home for our people. Are you planning on travelling there?”

Dorn cringed when his mother asked him the obvious question. Mainly because he didn't have an answer for her. Not a good one anyway.

“I was there. They didn't want me. They kicked me out.”

“
Kicked you -?” She stared at him with an odd look on her face. “The Lady said that there was a shifter causing trouble in the east?” She asked but she didn't need to. She already knew. She could see it in him. Hear it in his voice. How she knew the Lady was what puzzled him. And there was only one “Lady”.

“
As charged. Though she seems to have relented in her condemnation of me a little since.” He nodded, admitting his crimes, if they were truly crimes. “But how do you know the Lady Sylfene and what she says?”

“
Dream walker. My gift may not be the strongest but no others can pass me by in the realm of sleep without my noticing.” That made sense to him. But more than that it answered one of his other questions. Or maybe it just confirmed his suspicions. If his mother had seen her passing in her dreams then the Lady Sylfene also had the gift of the dream walker among whatever other gifts she might have.

She was also the teacher that had been bothering him each night in his sleep. He had suspected it, but his mother's words all but confirmed it for him. It didn't explain why though, or how to stop it. He was getting tired of the endless history lessons about people and places he'd never heard of. And he wondered how many others were suffering the same nightly annoyance. It was hard to tell how many others were in his class. Like everything else about them their numbers were uncertain. But if anyone knew what was happening in the world of sleep he suspected his mother did. He asked.

“She's been reaching out to those who are angry. Those who have been fighting. There are a few others nearby who have been visited. There are probably many more.”

“
The Lady believes that there is a war coming. That the old faiths will be attacked and that those who follow them will have to defend them. She thinks that unless those who follow the old gods are united they will be killed. That the Dicans or the elves or both will launch a war of slaughter. That they will burn, pillage and kill until none are left. Neither the faithful nor the wildlings.”

“
Her hope is that the two peoples forced to flee into the wastes and the other realms by the Dicans and the elves can form a bond. And that together the wildlings and the faithful can stand where divided they will fall. She also says that the wildlings have been given their gifts by the old gods. And that because of that they have a duty to stand by their followers.”

“
The dream lessons are simply her way of bringing the wildlings back to their faith.”

Or creating an army was Dorn's immediate thought. It could have been an unworthy thought, he didn't know. And maybe the Lady was right to want such a thing. For the moment wildlings hid. They didn't know who among their neighbours were also wildlings. Not if they were in the southern lands or the southern wastes. In the White Plains, the northern wastes and Enderly, wildlings walked openly. In Alador they were more cautious. Some were open, some weren't. But what mattered was that where the wildlings fought they fought alone. And alone they were vulnerable.

As for the faithful they were weak. The shrines, altars and temples were old and few visited them. Fewer still had priests and priestesses in attendance. They would offer little or no resistance to the Dicans. Especially when for fifty or more years they had been hunted down and killed by them. Those of the other faiths hid just like wildlings.

Together though, they would be stronger. The faiths could offer the wildlings the one thing they didn't have; a home. Even if it was a homeland in the wastes. A place where they could stand as who they were and not have to fear. And the wildlings could defend it. As they marched and gathered together at the ancient temple they were growing in strength. He'd seen the evidence of that on his journey in the form of the dead patrols. And from what his mother was saying there was more evidence of that in Alador. Dican temples were being burnt.

War was coming and he had no idea if what the Lady Sylfene was doing was preparing for that war or inciting it. It could be both.

Relighting the path as Sena had called it was a call to the faithful to return to their beliefs and their churches. A clarion call. The dreams were a call to arms for their allies. A herald to those who were not of the faith but who shared their enemies and could fight. They were a shared history behind which they could unite.

And Lady Sylfene was behind both. That could only mean that she feared invasion, even now. The enemy had had their noses bloodied, but that only meant that they were angry. They would strike back harder. And she surely feared that attack was coming soon. And while he didn't know if or when it would happen, he knew what they needed to do. They needed to leave.

“
So the Dicans have begun creating their army of spies and informants here. Hostilities between the wildlings and the church have begun in the rest of Alador. They've been knocked back in the wastes but the Lady obviously fears an invasion still. And I passed a small army of them not a week back which means they must have beaten back the elves or they wouldn't have been able to spare the troops. Now the Dicans will be strengthening their grip everywhere they can. Fortifying their positions as they prepare for another invasion.”

“
I think it's time we left this realm.”

Chapter Thirty Three.

The Edan home was a small but surprisingly comfortable cottage. But then the Edan's had been living in it for decades. Time enough for them to make the humble dwelling suitable for their needs. So the stone walls had been rendered and smoothed, and then white washed. No cold breeze would pass through them. The floors were covered with thick rugs, the windows with heavy curtains. And the large fireplace was more than sufficient to keep the entire cottage warm.

Keeping warm though wasn't a problem for them. Not then. If anything the opposite was true. With so many people in the little cottage at once and the fire burning away merrily, they were almost too hot. There also wasn't enough room for everyone to move freely and there weren't enough seats, which was why the children were on the floor and Dorn was standing. The main room was crowded. Too crowded. But then with Dorn's family and Thymis' as well all squeezed together in the little crofter's cottage that was only to be expected.

He would have suggested going outside but the others said no. There were Dican informers among their neighbours, and they would report anything strange to their masters. The chances were that the Dicans already knew about the stranger in town. A large family gathering involving him would create suspicion. There could already be people watching them.

Since the Dican churches had started burning the informants had been everywhere. Asking questions in the alehouses, following people about and peeking through windows as they hunted for wildlings. And after the local church had been destroyed people had started disappearing in the night. Just as they had in Lampton Heights. It didn't matter that this was Alador and the church did not have sway here. The church was never too interested in the law of the realm. They would act and if they were forced to later they would apologise. But the apology would be meaningless as they continued their campaign of murder. And more people would vanish. There would be no charges laid or judgements called for. Those who had been taken would be interrogated, tortured and though they were all likely innocent of any crime, killed.

The church was moving to take control of the realm. Dorn’s family had to be gone before that happened.

Everyone knew it. His family knew it.

Family. It was so strange to have his family back with him. All of them. After so long he had all but given up hope. Yet now they were all there, together again. And there were more of them than before.

Adain, his little brother, shocked him every time he saw him. A brother he had never known existed. A cheeky little imp with huge doses of vitality and a laugh that rang out wherever he went, Adain could never have survived in Lampton Heights. He was not the sort of child who could be contained in any way. But in Alador he had been able to grow a little wild. As to what his gift might be Dorn didn't know. It was too soon for it to begin to show. But he was certain it would be something of the physical realm. Maybe a spell sword or a shifter.

And then there was Thymis, his brother in law. He was a surprisingly decent young man with impeccable manners. Though he knew almost nothing about him, Dorn liked him. And he liked his family too. The Edans were good people. The sort of people who would in a heartbeat make the decision to leave their family land just to journey with their son to an ancient temple in a distant realm.

Terra had chosen well he thought, but that was to be expected. She was no longer the child she had been. She had become a confident young woman in the years they had been apart and soon enough he expected, she would become a mother herself. A little younger than was the norm, but he expected she would do well regardless.

And as for his father, he looked strong. Stronger than he had in Lampton Heights. Something about his life in Alador had agreed with him. The deep lines of his face that Dorn remembered had smoothed over a little bit. He had colour in his face from spending his days in the sun instead of an office. And his back was straighter now that he no longer spent his days hunched over a desk. He had even gained a little weight. Like the rest of his family.

Meanwhile his mother seemed to spend her days shifting between happiness and worry. Joy that he was alive and worry that the hard times were upon them once more. But still she had been the one to arrange the meeting. To make certain that everyone knew the time and the place as she sent the messages through their dreams. She was stronger than he remembered. Stronger of will. Stricter of purpose. As she had to be. And that had obviously helped with the range of her gift. It used to be that she had had to be in the same house as the dreamer, or within sight. Now she could walk through the dreams of those as far as a league away.

The years had been good to them. He was glad of that. Though secretly perhaps he was also a little bit hurt. That they had lived their lives without him seemed unfair. As if they had forgotten him. But it didn't matter. Not when they were back together again. And not when they had to leave Alador. All of them.

“
We have the horses and the wagons ready. We have the supplies we will need for the journey. And we have a new home waiting for us. I say we leave first thing in the morning.”

His father was never one to engage in pleasantries when there were important matters to be discussed. Dorn liked that even if it sometimes upset others. And he liked it then more than ever. He really hadn't wanted to spend any more time speaking about his life in the wastes. About living in an ancient shrine and battling the terrible monsters they were certain he fought every day. The children might enjoy the tales, but there were important matters to discuss.

“Aye.”

Endolm, Thymis' father and the head of his house was a man of few words and the only one there who didn't seem to have any interest in Dorn's life in the wastes. He was a farmer and he cared about crops and harvests and the weather. Which made it hard to understand why he and his wife and their other children had agreed so easily to undertake the journey. But doubtless the Edans had been considering the very same journey even before Dorn had turned up. For they too were wildlings and he was sure most wildlings had. And Endolm's skills as a farmer and a stonewright would be welcome in Terris Lee. Especially when it came to rebuilding Arrol Der Terris. He was also the only one of them truly skilled when it came to driving a wagon and handling horses which was why he was leading them.

“At sunrise. We will take the north and east roads as far as we can through Alador before entering the wastes, then cut their edge and head directly for the White Plains. And in the evenings everyone who can pick up a bow will have to practice.” Which no doubt explained the pile of longbows he had already stacked up against the wall.

“
Once through the White Plains we'll steer a more easterly path and Dorn will have to guide us through the shale lands. There are no trails there.” Dorn nodded agreeing instantly.

“
Then we're agreed?” Endolm asked, though it wasn't really a question, and everyone nodded.

And just like that the plan was made and Dorn was left wondering how it could be so simple. In only a few words they had agreed to undertake what would be a difficult journey, to discard their old lives and begin again in a new land. These were huge decisions that would impact on the rest of their lives, and yet they were made in a heartbeat with nary a word of protest.

That was the power of fear.